The Tools
The Software, Hardware, and more
What I use to make my music
I make my music these days mostly “in the box” meaning that I do almost everything with software. For now the only live instrument is my voice. All other sounds are virtual instruments created using samples of real instruments, synthesizers, and other audio manipulations to create digital audio to be manipulated in the creation of music. At the core I use Apple’s Logic Pro DAW as my virtual studio running on an Apple Mac computer. I further use other software to manipulate sounds including my voice in the overall production. The melodies, chord progressions & lyrics are conceived by myself in an otherwise natural way; I’m just using a less than traditional set of tools.
The Sounds
I use a lot of different sources for the sounds I use, and I’m regularly adding to my inventory. For this I’m trying to focus on the sources I tend to use the most; my favorites. I’ll feature them here roughly ranked by how much I tend to use them, and how much I really like them. As you can see I’m featuring quite a few here, but this is not a comprehensive collection. I have used, and continue to use a few not featured here. As you may also see, I use several Kontakt instruments. In addition to those Kontakt instruments shown here I also use the libraries that come with Kontakt quite a bit. I also use some samples and presets from Vicious Antelope, and WA Productions. Most of my drum sounds are a collection of MIDI triggered samples from various sources that I spent many hours sorting to find the ones I like the best. I set up templates to program the MIDI for my favorite drum & percussion samples across my sessions which helps keep those sounds more consistent across my productions.
Synthesizers
& virtual
instruments
Audio Processing Plugins
Logic Pro comes with a lot of great software. One can create great sounding professional grade productions using what comes already loaded with the DAW. It’s really not necessary to get extra plugins from other developers. Of course, that’s hard to resist, and I’ve spent loads of money buying plugins by other developers. I only have a few regrets in that. It is great to have so many creative tools to work with! In this section I’ll highlight my favorite plugins that come bundled with the Logic Pro DAW. Some I’ve used often; and some I’m a bit ashamed I’ve tended to ignore. In compiling this I hate that I’ve slept on a few of these plugins I got for free with Logic. I’m making it a point to utilize the previously ignored gems going forward.
